I don't think too many people will think Sarah Palin won the debate.
She did OK. I saw a lot of flat lines on the "voter dial," and that fit with my response. A lot of her answers kind of meandered around and didn't go anywhere. My opinion of course.
Biden was good, very good in a couple of places. I think there were a lot of landmines for him and he seemed to avoid them. But there was no Lloyd Bentsen moment where he just put the thing away. That's OK, probably not a good plan to try to hit a home run; just be steady and substantial. He was.
As a bottom line thing, I just can't see Sarah Palin as President. We've already had a folksy, chirpy, incurious idealogue who appeals to the Republican base. As has been said in comments, there's not politician that Palin recalls more than GWB. Maybe others see it differently, but I have had enough of that formula. (There's also been some comparison of her to Michelle Bachmann. Palin/Bachmann in 2012!)
I also like that Biden didn't cede any ground on Joe Sixpack or as a parent. Maybe the best part of the debate.
Palin's had two pretty good nights. The convention speech, and this debate. She prepared several days for one, at least a week for the other. Can she think at all on her feet? Can she handle a press conference? Can she really do what every other candidate has to do, go out and be held accountable by the press? We still don't know. The results that we have seen have been very mixed.
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Random thoughts (I actually did watch most of the debate)...
(1) Palin did exceeded expectations, and there were no major gaffes.
(2) In a partisan world where facts don't matter, the following point is irrelevant: Biden did better if you were just reading two side by side transcripts not knowing anything else about the people.
(3) My wife's point, and I think a very good one... all things considered (expectations, folksy vs. substantive) it was a basicly draw, but McCain/Palin needed a win.
(4) My point, and I am the worst wonk in the world, so for what it is worth... I read somewhere that a lot of people who tuned into the first presidential really saw Barack Obama for the first time and were favorably impressed. Similarly, I couldn't help but think tons of people might have tuned in to see Sarah and instead ended up thinking, "hey, this Joe guy has gravitas..." (ok, if they are the same crowd that haven't tuned in to any of this until now, they probably didn't say "has gravitas", maybe "is cool and smart too").
(5) Did anyone get the point where Palin mentioned about Obama and O'Biden? Joe does have some scrappy Irish in him, doesn't he. That's my funny slip of the night.
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